George the Monkey

Okay, I knew I said that I was giong to talk abuot teh state fair and I will! We had lots of fun, Katie rode several rides, patted the goats, saw the chickens and napped for a LONG time afterwards.

BUT, today I have to take a side journey and mention the episode of Curious George I saw yesterday with Katie. Katie has recently started watching the show, which she calls George the Monkey and it provides some variety instead of just Dragon Tales in our days. It was a better episode for me to watch than Katie, I thought because George didn't want to take a bath. He had lost his bubble-making frog, Sproingy and was no longer interested in taking abath, even though he was covered (and I mean covered) in mud. Of course, while he was refusing a bath, he was getting mud on anything and everything he touched. Sound familiar anyone? Dad (the man in the yellow hat) did not understand why he had a filthy monkey who suddenly wouldn't take a bath. He tried 6 ways to Sunday, just like we as parents of toddlers try to finagle our children, to get George to take a bath and was stymied at every turn. He also did not understand why George would not take a bath so the primary problem, the missing frog, was not solved. I so completely identified with the man in yellow it was amazing. I thought about the times Katie cries to go to the potty and, as soon as she sits down, cries to be changed (she did some of this at 3:45 this morning) all while there is nothing to change. I thought about the times Katie loves to take a bath, and the times she won't take a bath to save her life. Or the fact that she is scared to death of the elevator, unless we are carrying her, but loved the carousel with the horses that go up and down. I empathized with George's dad on how he got advice from a friend and tried creative ways to get him clean without actually giving him a bath. I especially empathised when he had to take a walk because he needed to stop thinking about all the problems for a while.

My conclusion, something is going on in their toddler brains that is totally logical to them that makes them do what they do. The fact that we don't know about it or what it might be is immaterial. I will assume that it exists and remember that it is not my fault or anything I am doing that is causing the problem. Instead I will take a deep breath and hose her off in the driveway. :)

Halloween is here! I am so excited about Katie's dragon costume, especially since she didn't HAVE a costume a week ago. More on that and pics to come!